The present application is directed to a device and method of removing a portion from a surface of a material piece and, more particularly, to removing a portion from the surface based on the thickness of the material piece.
Material such as wood, composites including adhesive and wood strands or fibers, plastics, Styrofoam, etc., may be initially processed into a roughly dimensioned piece. Prior to further using the piece, further processing is required to provide an appropriate finish on at least one of the top and bottom surfaces of the piece, and/or an appropriate thickness measured between the surfaces. One example is a piece of lumber that is initially roughly cut into a board having rough dimensions. The rough lumber may include variations in the thickness, and sections or an entirety of one or both of the top and bottom surfaces may be unfinished. The board requires that additional material be removed from one or both surfaces prior to being usable by a woodworker. Further, the board may need to have a more uniform thickness along its length. Another example is a metal sheet that has rough initial dimensions that requires further processing to obtain the desired thickness and surface finish.
Existing devices and methods of planing a material piece generally include a lower cutterhead to remove material from a bottom surface of the piece and an upper cutterhead to remove material from a top surface of the piece. The depth of cut from the lower cutterhead is set at a fixed amount prior to feeding the material piece into the device. The top cutterhead is set to remove the remaining material from the top surface of the piece. These devices and methods are intended to leave the piece at the desired thickness. A problem with these devices and methods is they do not take into account the typical variation found in rough dimensioned pieces. These devices and methods often remove more material from one surface of the piece than the opposing surface. This often leaves large areas of the piece either unfinished or undersized.